The average voter doesn't know the name.
Most serious media outlets consider him an odd "pizza guy" outlier.
Even political junkies probably view him as an oddity.
But Herman Cain, former Godfather's Pizza CEO, sports a certain charisma, a business background, and a growing teabagger following. He's being portrayed as a "grassroots" figure, a businessman fed up with government who blahblahblah you know what I mean.
Let's ignore Cain's story for a moment. Let's look at his campaign manager: a man named Mark Block.
The marketing of Herman Cain to this point has been the classic teabagger fantasy story: a successful businessman with no political experience comes in to run the government like a business. Somehow this fixes our problems (or something). Here's a puff piece.
But for Cain being such a "grassroots" guy, a noted insider is the one running the campaign.
Mark Block is the former head of American for Prosperity in Wisconsin. As the article details, he's been a major figure in Republican party machinery in Wisconsin, connected to former Governor Tommy Thompson, several state supreme court justices and even former president George H. W. Bush. He was an aggressive campaigner; the type of aggressive that ends up resulting in the largest fines Wisconsin has ever given out:
The Elections Board alleged that Block had overseen the creation of a supposedly non-partisan, non-profit organization to encourage voter participation – a description not unlike that of AFP. In fact, the Board’s investigation found, the non-profit was an illegal arm of the Wilcox campaign used to skirt campaign finance law and rake in large donations from school choice supporters used to help reelect Wilcox. (Wilcox himself agreed to a $10,000 fine.)
After his reputation and record made him too controversial/criminal for the GOP establishment, he went "grassroots" - that is, he took up jobs for corporate structured astroturfing agencies. Beyond AFP, he's worked with the Koch Brothers think tank the MacIver Institute, who have supported Scott Walker's initiatives with fake grassroots support and manufactured bullshit controversies about doctors.
Block also has connections to fellow Wisconsinite Reince Priebus; namely, they were both highly involved in the recent Wisconsin voter suppression conspiracy (remember this?) which got exposed. It's amazing that Wisconsin of all places seems to be the epicenter of the worst GOP policies as of late.
But for his long resume, Block's true political masterpiece is easy to identify: Senator Ron Johnson.
After Block helping the unknown millionaire get defined as the tea party candidate to win the primary, the rich and well-connected Johnson went to work as defining himself as an independent political outsider to Feingold's Washington insider. Yes, this is all bullshit, but it worked.
When political strategies work, the logic is to just keep doing them. In Herman Cain, they have the exact same formula that worked so well with Johnson: right-wing populism, empty-suit sloganeering, COMMON SENSE SOLUTIONS for the masses; the usual wheeling-and-dealing behind the scenes. And they're doing the exact same thing, as Cain intends to build his name from the ground up: From 538
This seems simple to me: Cain presents the vague tea party ideal candidate (and, in their minds, ends the racism criticism), while people like Mark Block act from behind the scenes. Expect Fox News to be "surprised" by the "unexpected rise" of this "tea party supporter who is catching on with the voters". Expect Breitbart to do some editorial on racism. Expect Cain to immediately be compared to Obama's rise, no matter what happens.
It's hard to look at Mark Block and his connections and not view Herman Cain as anything but the latest incarnation of a Koch Brothers preferred candidate prototype. The GOP field is bad enough that this might actually be their best option.
Nobody here is going to vote for Herman Cain. But we shouldn't let his "independent non-politician" narrative grow while the MSM aren't looking.